Before starting, I just wanna tell you that I'm still waiting for your suggestions to finally decide the ship name of Anastasia and Nate 😊

"Anastasia."

Anastasia almost falls from her stepladder with her dust-cloth at the sound of her name, or more exactly at the voice and husky tone pronouncing it, that make her heart jump.

"Nathaniel?" She turns around slowly, careful not to slip, and she gets even more surprised to find him so close, at the bottom of the stepladder.

"Nathaniel?" she repeats, breathless, as the dark shades in his tenebrous eyes make her unable to form any other words. 

This much darkness in his eyes, she has only seen it once, and it has been on their first encounter, though right now, they have a predatory glint they haven't then.

"Do you remember when I told you I like the way you say my name?" That same intense look is running all over her features as he studies her carefully, and she can only nod slowly, a little taken aback by his direct question.

Of course, she remembers, and she remembers especially what has happened after... his tender lips and how he has turned her down. Her lungs are still suffocating with all these emotions.

"There's one thing I didn't tell you..." He takes one step closer, his calves now touching the ladder's metal, as his penetrating gaze doesn't leave hers.

From her small perch, she has another perspective of his handsome face. She can follow the path of each of his perfectly tamed brown curls – her fingers itching to run wildly in them – then down the smooth skin right above his scratchy one-day stubble – goosebumps form on her skin just at the thought of feeling this contrast – and his plump rosy lips that she is starving to taste again. But the most vertiginous are his eyes, a few inches below hers, gazing adoringly and greedily at her; they make her feel so tall yet so tiny at the same time.

"There's one way I'd like to hear you saying it," he drags out, though each word sounds deliberate, making the air of the empty room thicker.

She holds her breath, and the cold bar of the stepladder firmly to not fall as she is hung on what he is going to say next. 

She doesn't doubt that Nathaniel would catch her, yet maybe that's what she is dreading as her head is spinning, everything appearing blurry but him... The way his tongue slips out as he wets his lower lip, taking his sweet time to finish his sentence. 

There is something different about him today, something driven and poised that leaves her even more restless than she usually is around him.

"Moaning it. I'd like to hear the way it sounds when you're moaning my name."

The air she has been holding in her throat, her grip on the stepladder, it is all shaken as she almost chokes and falls headfirst, and she stares frozen, trying to grasp if she has really heard what she has heard, although the way he has drawn out each word intensely and intently has only left little doubt, which is erased by his intense dark gaze.

She is sure she has had some work to do; she has been about to clean something before he has arrived, but like the rag on the floor, it is disregarded, and even the voice of her conscience appears so far as flashes of Fergus, of Nathaniel's wife, of the Decree 123-51316, and of their blissful first encounter arise in her mind.

"What..."

Her question gets lost along with the last remaining bits of her sanity when his hands slide along her thighs. Even through the rough white fabric of her pants, they create butterflies all over her legs, and they are spreading their wings as he draws her softly towards him. 

She could, and she should, resist and stop him, yet she doesn't. She lets him lead her down one step slowly, once more hypnotized by his tenebrous eyes, and she sucks in a surprised breath when he pulls her completely to him. She rests her hands on his strong shoulders in a hopeless attempt to keep some balance, even if he already holds her firmly by her hips; it is her dizzy mind she is trying to steady.

Their faces an inch away from each other, he doesn't move. He doesn't force her. He doesn't say anything, only inviting her to surrender with his piercing eyes, and the invitation is really tantalizing. 

Her heart rate is echoing louder with each second, and each rational thought is neutralized by each loud sensation in her body.

They are just friends... But his warm hands are holding her like so much more, and her skin is already sparkling for even more, her legs growing weaker and weaker, maybe just to cave in to him. 

This is immoral... Yet the pull on all her muscles is drawing her to tip over, and when she gets to the thought of all the dangers, it is engulfed by the desire springing deep inside. All that is left is... Moaning it...

"Nathaniel..." she breathes out, going straight for his lips.

Yet he moves away right before they can touch, and before she has time to question it, his tempting lips that she needs so much are trailing sinfully slow down her neck, his teeth grazing the tender skin on the way.

Her head tilts back, offering him more access with no more hesitation as his warm hands lodge themselves in the small of her back, pulling her even closer and sparking the fire of desire there.

A breathless moan leaves her lips when he attaches his mouth on the sensitive skin right below her left ear, sucking slowly but surely a greedy mark, and like she has been wanting to do for so long, she messes his curls with her adventurous fingers, although the gesture is unconscious; she is just trying to get some grip on reality as she feels herself slipping with no return.

She is surprised that by now none of their consciences has caught up with them, and she is savoring blindly every sensation while she can.

The faintest touch is already a miracle, a dream come true, a fantasy, and he seems to know it too as his fingers sneak under the fabric of her uniform, dancing slowly on the burning skin of her back. 

All his actions are so languishing and teasing, steadily building an inferno in her core, and by the time his fingers get to her front, tickling her navel and making their way higher, she is completely overwhelmed by this blaze, her breathing turning into an erratic mess of choked pants and gasps.

"Let me hear you." He nibbles her earlobe, and just like that, she releases the moans she has been holding so tight for some minutes, though it feels like she has been holding to them her whole life.

These needy sounds must be spurring him because in the blink of an eye, contrastingly to all the detours of his dawdling hands so far, she finds herself stripped of her clothes; she doesn't even know how he has done it, as she is too lost in her lust.

Left in only her underwear, she strangely doesn't feel exposed, and all she cares is for them to be even as his black shirt gets in the way of her curious hands.

She doesn't get the chance to solve this problem though, because he gets down on his knees, and her wobbly legs almost give out at the ravenous sparkle in his eyes. This look is a silent warning and a promise, making the anticipation rush in her veins.

Slowly, almost in slow motions – or maybe it is just her heart that is beating too fast – he leans in to place a light kiss right above the lace of her panties, and her heart almost pops out of her ribcage, at the same time as her eyes out of their sockets, when he grasps the lace between his teeth, dragging it down her legs. 

This sight alone is a dangerous fantasy, a sinful fantasy coming true, and probably sensing the weakness he is sending in her legs, he catches firmly her butt just when they are about to give way.

The tingles running in her lower body are almost too much for her to handle. Yet Nathaniel keeps a calm, unnerving composure, a satisfied sparkle shining in the darkness of his eyes as he watches the wreck he has made of her, or maybe he is planning how much more he can do to push her towards the edge and hear his demand?

She realizes it might be the latter when he smoothly leads her to sit on the stepladder and earns a sharp gasp from her parted lips, the cold metal searing the hot skin of her back and fueling the fire in her core. 

She wriggles her legs, desperately trying to close them on the throbbing in her center. However, he stops her, his big hands resting flatly on her inner thighs and pushing them more apart as he deviously lifts an eyebrow.

His driven behavior is driving her insane; she wants to scream, but her voice is stuck in her throat, and her breath is totally annihilated. She isn't sure towards what edge he is trying to push her, yet she is nearing it closer and closer as he licks his lower lips, the pressure in her core building to a boiling point.

"Nathan–" His name gets lost in the moan she chokes out when his lips dive down to her burning center.

If all of his actions until now have been slow and languishing, his tongue is the exact opposite, flicking and swirling at a restless pace that sends her heart in a frenetic, uneven rhythm.

Their 'friends' deal seems long forgotten, and with his head between her thighs, she could laugh at the comical of the situation if his 'friendly' tongue wasn't already dipping into her entrance.

"Oh my..." She grips his hair tightly, needing him closer, as the sparks of pleasure are so close to igniting, and she is now tipping over the edge.

"Say my name," he rasps right above her pulsating nerves, the echo of his demand traveling and reaching throughout her whole body.

"Nathaniel..." She arches into him, surrendering, and his grunted reply and the way his hands knead her inner tighs trigger the ultimate spark of her burning bliss.

"Say my name," he repeats, his strained voice bursting another rush of flames that light her on fire.

"Nathaniel!" she cries out, the pleasure echoing in all her body making her forget all the dangers, and the only thing she remembers is...

"Nathaniel..." she breathes out when he stands up, hovering over her while his fingers are replacing his wicked tongue, maintaining the cracklings of her orgasm.

She trembles against him as his lips inch closer, her lust not satisfied until she can taste them...

"Nathaniel." She opens her eyes abruptly, the emptiness sinking in as well as the darkness surrounding her.

Slowly, her wide eyes adjust to this darkness, and she recognizes the shadows of her bedroom: her bedside table, her desk, her bed, and no stepladder...

It has just been a dream. She tries to calm down the painful throbbing of her heart and in her core, but she doesn't succeed, and she blows out a heavy sigh, a mix of frustration and disappointment as she can still taste his name on her tongue.

He hasn't been there. It has just been her hopeless mind; it has just been a dream, and she is still haunted by those tempting forbidden lips.

She lets out another sigh, this time, shaky and shallow. She is really messed up, figuratively and literally, she notes in front of her messed sheets, and she doesn't even want to think of the wetness she feels in her panties.

Luckily, she is alone, so no one can have heard her, but what will happen when she will be in Fergus's arms?

This question instantly helps her cool down, even freezing her blood, and her sweat turns colder at the thought that she can't control her dreams.

It isn't the first time that she has steamy dreams about Nathaniel, but this one has felt realler and has left her more restless than usual. Will it ever stop? Or will he haunt her forever?

She closes her eyes, seeking some peaceful sleep, yet she only gets flashes of this dream, now shadowed with fear and guilt.

Please don't hate me!! But did you really think it would be that easy? 😏

What do you think of this steamy chapter? Some finally got their 'eat-eat', even if this was just a dream 😉 

Do you agree with Anastasia that she is really messed up? And do you think her dream will ever become reality? 😉

Let me know in the comments, and vote if you liked this chapter! I love to get little notifications from you, my little rays of sunshine ❤🌞